Couple espoused anti-government beliefs on social media

Las Vegas Sheriff Doug Gillespie stands by a board with the pictures of suspects Jerad Miller and Amanda Miller during a news conference Monday, June 9, 2014 in Las Vegas. Two police officers were having lunch at a strip mall pizza buffet when the Millers fatally shot them in a point-blank ambush, then fled to a nearby Wal-Mart where they killed a third person and then themselves in an apparent suicide pact, authorities said. (AP Photo/John Locher)(Photo: John Locher, AP)

Jerad and Amanda Miller were not among the known hate group members tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

But the couple came to the attention of law center staff members soon after Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department identified them as the killers who Sunday ambushed two officers eating lunch in a restaurant, then killed a bystander at a nearby Wal-Mart before Amanda Miller reportedly shot her husband, then herself.

They draped a "Don't Tread on Me" Revolutionary War-era flag and a swastika over one officer's body, Kevin McMahill told the Las Vegas Sun newspaper.

Posts on both Millers' Facebook pages, videos that Jerad Miller posted on YouTube and other social media sites yield a picture of what the couple believed, said Heidi Beirich, Southern Poverty Law Center spokeswoman.

"It is clear they have the classic beliefs of the anti-government patriot movement," Beirich said.

"They believe the federal government is evil, and is about to round them up or seize their guns."

Beirich said the law center has not found any connection between the Millers and any particular patriot or militia organization.

The Millers were not associated with the tea party in Tippecanoe County, said member Mike Morris.

Morris said the party's information technology director did not find the couple in its database nor on its mailing list.

"This is not what we are about whatsoever," Morris said. "We follow the U.S. Constitution and the Indiana Constitution.

"I find it a bit offensive the media goes looking for that connection. Most of these people are usually anarchists or leftists, but you don't hear that reported."

Lafayette and West Lafayette police said they have not investigated any incidents involving patriot group members.

Indiana has a history of anti-government-type movements, Beirich said.

The Southern Poverty Law Center last year listed about 30 active patriot groups, and 26 active hate groups in Indiana.

The lists include chapters of the Ku Klux Klan in Kokomo, Elwood and Nashville, rooted in the state's well-documented role as the cradle of the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1900s.

Indiana Sons of Liberty, a patriot group, is listed as having members in Benton County.

Beirich said she isn't sure how the Miller's ended up on a path to their own destruction.

"More than likely they were exposed to these ideas on the Web," she said. "You have people on forums posting beliefs or hanging out online.